Out-of-school suspension and other exclusionary discipline are associa

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What This Claim Does NOT Say

Does not establish a uniformly negative causal effect on test scores; some student-fixed-effects studies find null-to-positive achievement effects and selection into suspension is hard to fully remove.

Does not establish that simply reducing suspensions — without added supports or climate change — raises achievement; a state policy study found minimal academic gains.

Does not establish that the racial/disability disparities reflect differential misbehavior; disparities persist controlling for reported behavior, but the causes are contested.

Does not establish that exclusion improves the learning environment for peers; spillover evidence is small and negative, not positive.

Scope — Where It Holds

The correlational base is large and consistent (meta-analyses tie suspension to lower achievement, higher dropout, and more delinquency). Quasi-experimental evidence is mixed: a Philadelphia student-fixed-effects/IV study finds suspension lowers achievement, and an NYC study finds worse attainment, while an Arkansas student-fixed-effects analysis finds near-null test-score effects and warns of residual selection. Disparities by race and disability persist after controlling for reported behavior, but the mechanisms are debated. Effects appear most credible for attendance, attainment, and delinquency; least settled for test scores.

Sources & Verification

Seminal

Lacoe, J., & Steinberg, M. P (2018). Do suspensions affect student outcomes?. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 41(1), 34-62.
Observational · K-12
Using student fixed effects and an instrumental-variable strategy leveraging a district policy change, a suspension decreased the suspended student's math and reading achievement; spillovers onto peers were very small and negative, not positive — evidence the practice harms rather than helps.
Bearing on this claim: Philadelphia student FE/IV: suspension lowers math/reading achievement; tiny negative peer spillovers.
doi.org/10.3102/0162373718794897

Supporting

Noltemeyer, A. L., Ward, R. M., & Mcloughlin, C (2015). Relationship between school suspension and student outcomes: A meta-analysis. School Psychology Review, 44(2), 224-240.

Precedent Bridge

Goss recognized a property interest in public education and required notice and an informal hearing before short suspensions; the developmental stakes of exclusion — lost attendance, attainment, and heightened delinquency risk — are the substantive backdrop to that procedural protection.419 U.S. 565 (1975)

Limits & Counter-considerations

Students who are suspended differ systematically from those who are not, so selection bias is the central threat; rigorous designs disagree on the test-score effect; reducing suspensions without supports has shown minimal academic gains; and the mechanisms behind racial/disability disparities are contested. The rating is of a probable harm to attendance/attainment/delinquency, not a settled causal test-score effect.

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